Dr. Pia Anderson

Assistant Professor in Anthropology

E-mail: panderson@aus.edu

Pia-Kristina Anderson, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology. (PhD, MA, BA, University of California at Berkeley; MA, BA, University of Cambridge) Dr. Anderson has extensive archaeological fieldwork experience in various regions, including Egypt, Hawaii, American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Guam, New Guinea, Australia, France, Spain, Kazakhstan, Greece, Ireland, Scotland and the continental United States. Dr. Anderson’s theoretical interests include anthropological history, culture contact and the development of complex societies. She held a postdoctoral scholarship from the Archaeological Research Facility of the University of California at Berkeley. She has taught at both the American University in Cairo and at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Dr. Meenaz Kassam

Assistant Professor in Sociology

E-mail: mkassam@aus.edu

Meenaz Kassam, Assistant Professor of Sociology (PhD, MA, BA, University of Toronto). Her books include Grass Roots NGOs by Women for Women: The Driving Force of Development in India (with Handy, F, Feeney. S, Ranade, B.) Sage Publications, 2006 and From Sewa to Cyberspace: The Changing Face of Volunteerism in India (with Handy, F., Ranade, B.) Sage Publications, forthcoming. Her articles have appeared in Journal of Community Practice, Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Journal of Women’s Studies, Social Development Issues, the Chinmaya Management Journal and the Canadian Journal of Sociology.  Her article received Honorable Mention for Outstanding Published Article in the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly and, more recently, the 2007 Marie Weil Award for Best Published Article in the Journal of Community Practice and Haworth Press. She was invited guest speaker at York University, Toronto, University of Pennsylvania, and SNDT College, Mumbai. She was invited Plenary Speaker at the 2004 International Society on Third Sector Research (ISTR) conference in Toronto. Dr. Kassam’s area of expertise is the nonprofit sector. She is on the Board of Directors of Aseema whose mandate is to promote and protect the rights of underprivileged children and women. Before coming to the AUS she taught at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include nonprofit entrepreneurship, volunteerism and women’s empowerment. Her teaching interests include various topics related to environmental issues, the sociology of human behavior and sociological theory.

Dr. Yuting Wang

Assistant Professor In Sociology

E-mail : ywang@aus.edu

Dr. Yuting Wang received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Notre Dame, IN, USA. Her research mainly focuses on religion and spirituality in the United States and China. She is especially interested in Muslims, both immigrant and indigenous, in these two societies. In her dissertation, she studies the internal dynamics of a racially and ethnically diverse mosque and examines the intricate process of identity negotiation and construction among immigrant Muslims in the post-9.11 American society. She has published journal articles, newspaper comments, and book chapters in both the United States and China. She has taught at the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University before joining AUS. She is currently revising her dissertation into a book and writing a novel on the spiritual quest of Chinese overseas students who were born at the end of 1970s and early 1980s—the beginning of China’s reform era.

Dr. Ravindran Sriramchandran

Assistant Professor In Anthropology

E-mail: sramachandran@aus.edu

Dr. Ravindran Sriramachandran, (PhD, MA, Columbia University ; MA, St. Xavier's College; BA, Madras University) Dr. Sriramachandran has extensive anthropological fieldwork experience in various regions, of South Asia and also S.E. Asia. Dr. Sriramachandran's interests include, political theory, semiotics, post-colonial theory, migration studies, and folklore. He has taught at Columbia University, Madras University and Barnard College.

Dr. Stephen Keck

Department Head

Associate Professor in History

E-mail: skeck@aus.edu

Stephen L. Keck, Associate Professor of History and Head of the Department of International Studies (DPhil, University of Oxford; MDiv, BA, Yale University). Dr. Keck believes international education will not only improve the chances for global peace and prosperity, but should also make possible the reconceptualization of academic boundaries. Redefining academic paradigms should make the production of new and hopefully better knowledge a reality for universities in the 21st century. 

Dr. Keck’s scholarship explores modern British intellectual and cultural history, historiography, public history, the study of heritage, European imperialism and the fate of religions in the modern world. His articles have appeared in a wide number of publications and reflect his research, which is presently focused on three major themes in British cultural and intellectual history. He is finishing a manuscript entitled Sir Arthur Helps and the Making of Victorianism, which aims to recover Arthur Helps (a major mid-19th century figure who wrote widely-read literature, studied the Atlantic Slave Trade and directly served Queen Victoria) from neglect. A second theme concerns the thought of John Ruskin, who was Victorian Britain’s most penetrating cultural critic. 

Dr. Keck is drawing upon the history of art and architecture to exhibit the ways in which Ruskin’s understanding of Venice made him a significant public historian. Finally, he is working on the history of colonial Burma by studying British writing about the subject, concentrating on the period 1885 to 1914. To that end, he is in the process of investigating the ways in which the British understood Islam in colonial Burma.  Ultimately, he seeks to develop the first monograph devoted to that period in the now nearly closed nation’s history.  He has taught widely, offering courses in Western and World history, and more specialized subjects such as 19th century Europe, European intellectual history, British India, Modern France and Algeria, Imperialism and historiography.

Before coming to AUS, Dr. Keck taught at the College of Charleston and the National University of Singapore. During the summer of 2006 Dr. Keck worked in Yangon, Myanmar as part of a team that taught courses aimed at stimulating critical thinking.

Dr. Thomas John Hochstettler

Provost

Professor in History

E-mai:  thochstettler@aus.edu

Dr. Thomas John Hochstettler earned BA in History from Earlham College in 1969 and a year later he earned his master’s degree in History at the University of Michigan. He received his Ph.D. in History at the University of Michigan in 1980.

Dr. Hochstettler was President of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He has a broad background in higher education that spans financial and strategic planning, institutional and academic development, fund-raising, and scholarly research and teaching as a historian.  A teaching and research fellow in the department of history at Stanford University from 1978 to 1980, Dr. Hochstettler spent the next six years as a financial analyst, senior associate and staff economist, budget manager, and assistant director of finance at Stanford University. From 1987 to 1992, Dr. Hochstettler served Bowdoin College as Dean for Planning and General Administration, Lecturer in History, and Acting Vice President for Finance and Treasure. He then joined the University of Houston System where he was the Director of Academic Planning from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, Dr. Hochstettler joined Rice University as Associate Provost and Adjunct Lecturer in History. From 1998 to 2004, he served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Visiting Professor of History in Jacobs University (previously International University Bermen). Dr. Hochstettler currently is completing his fifth year as President of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

Throughout his career, Dr. Hochstettler has made presentations on early modern German and European military history and German-U.S. educational cooperation and European postsecondary education. His scholarship extends to contemporary higher education topics including enrollment management, technology, and liberal learning. He has various publications and presentations on topics in international education reform. In 2004, the Chronicle of Higher Education published his paper “Aspiring to Steeples of Excellence at German Universities,” which explores the difficulties in applying the liberal arts education model to the German higher education system.

Dr. Richard Gassan

Assistant Professor in History

E-mail: rgassan@aus.edu

Richard Gassan, Assistant Professor of History. (PhD, MA, University of Massachusetts at Amherst; MA, BS, Ohio University). Dr. Gassan’s research interests focus on tourism as a social phenomenon, the creation and manifestations of consumer culture, and the cultural impact of consumerism— with a particular emphasis on how these forces shaped American culture before the Civil War. These are reflected in Richard’s first book, The Birth of American Tourism: New York, the Hudson Valley, and American Culture, 1790–1830 ( Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, forthcoming), and will be carried on in his next book, The Railroad Tourist: Tourism in America Before the Civil War, 1830–1860. He has published articles in Book History and the Journal of Social History, and wrote the general essay on tourism for The Encyclopedia of New York State. Among his many passions are a love for bicycling, Scottish indie-rock bands and movies of all types. Prior to coming to AUS, he taught at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Smith College, Western New England College and several other institutions in western Massachusetts.

Dr. Thomas DeGeorges

Assistant Professor in History

E-mail: tdegeorges@aus.edu

Thomas DeGeorges, Assistant Professor of International Relations and Gulf Studies (PhD, Harvard University; BA, Brooklyn College (CUNY)).  Dr. DeGeorges’ interests include modern Middle East history, North Africa, colonial history, and modern Europe.  His research focuses on understanding how colonial and post-colonial governments shaped social policy towards military veterans in North Africa.  His doctoral research involved Tunisian colonial veterans and he recently completed a post-doctoral scholarship in Algeria working on a comparative project involving social policy directed towards Algerian colonial veterans and Algerian moujahidine.  Dr. DeGeorges is currently preparing one article for publication on Tunisian veterans, as well as a conference paper on May 8, 1945 (Victory in Europe day) seen from an Algerian perspective for the upcoming MESA conference.  He also enjoys exploring the urban fabric of North African cities, such as Tunis, Tangier, Marrakesh, and Algiers and has spent countless hours in each city appreciating their unique architectural aspects. He is faculty advisor for INSA (International Studies Student Association).

Dr. Pernille Arenfeldt

Assistant Professor in History

E-mail: parenfeldt@aus.edu

Pernille Arenfeldt, Assistant Professor of History (PhD, European University Institute, Florence, Italy; MA, BA, Copenhagen University, Denmark). Dr. Arenfeldt’s research focuses on gender and politics in early modern Europe, particularly on the ways in which the analytical category of gender can facilitate a re-conceptualization of early modern politics. Her doctoral dissertation explores the ways in which princely women participated in dynastic politics and the government of the principalities. Dr. Arenfeldt has presented conference papers and published articles on subjects related to gender. She is currently reworking her dissertation for publication. She co-edited (with Regina Schulte, et al.) the essay collection titled The Body of the Queen. Gender and Rule in the Courtly World, 1500-2000 (Berghahn Books, 2006; German edition by Campus Verlag, 2002). Dr. Arenfeldt’s work is interdisciplinary and draws extensively on sociological and anthropological methodologies. Prior to coming to AUS, she has studied/conducted research in the United States and several European countries and taught at the University of East Anglia in United Kingdom. Dr. Arenfeldt also has a passionate interest in equestrian sport (particularly the art of dressage).

Dr. David Lea

Professor in Philosophy

E-mail: dlea@aus.edu

David Lea, Professor of Philosophy. (PhD, LlB, University of Ottawa; MA, McGill University; BA, College of the Holy Cross). Dr. Lea’s principal field is applied philosophy with interests in the philosophical foundations of property rights and business ethics. He is currently writing a book on intellectual property rights that features a comparison to issues in aboriginal entitlement. He has interests in the history of philosophy and has been a long-standing member of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, publishing some of his work in this area in the History of European Ideas and The European Legacy. David has published in the Business Ethics Quarterly, the Journal of Applied Philosophy, Business Ethics: A European Review and the Pacific Economic Bulletin. He wrote a summary of Melanesian philosophy in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy and a book, An Introduction to the Ethics of Business and Development in Contemporary Melanesia ( Port Moresby: UPNG Press, 2001). Before coming to AUS, he taught at the University of Papua New Guinea and served as acting dean of humanities there.

Dr. Thomas Simon

Professor in Philosophy

E-mail: tsimon@aus.edu

Thomas W. Simon, Faculty Fellow, International Studies (PhD, Washington University; JD, University of Illinois). Dr. Simon regularly teaches philosophy at Illinois State University. As a Fulbright Scholar, he taught law at the University of Malaya, the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and the University of Prishtina, Kosovo. He held the Distinguished Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Northern Colorado as well as helped to establish an English-speaking Japanese university, Miyazaki International College. His awards include a Liberal Arts Fellowship at Harvard Law School.  His research focuses on global injustices and on minority issues. In addition to over 40 articles, his publications include Democracy and Social Injustice (1995), Law & Philosophy (2000) and Laws of Genocide (2007).
 
He founded and edited Injustice Studies, an electronic journal. He regularly consults for the United Nations Working Group on Minorities and the American Bar Association Central/Eastern European Law Initiative. He served on a drafting committee for Albania’s new constitution. As a practicing attorney, he has represented a Diaspora Rwandan group in an extradition case to the Ad Hoc War Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda and has served locally as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for child abuse cases. He has received awards for teaching excellence from the University of Florida and the University of Illinois.

Mr. Kevin Gray

Instructor  in Philosophy

E-mail: kgray@aus.edu

Kevin W. Gray, Philosophy (ABD, MA, Université Laval, Hon. BSc, University of Toronto). His dissertation focuses on the difficulties in trying to define the system-lifeworld dichotomy in critical theory, and the implications posed by this problem for Habermas’s philosophy. His past research has been published in the Journal of the Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Dialogue, Sartre Studies International, Simone de Beauvoir Studies, amongst others. In winter 2010, a special volume of PhaenEx will appear under his guest editorship; the volume will examine the current relevance of the events of 1968 to the world today. His current research and teaching focuses on theories of the public sphere and civil society (particularly in the Middle East), critical theory, existentialism, and
western Marxism. He is at present secretary of the Canadian Philosophical Association. Prior to coming to AUS, Prof. Gray was a visiting student and researcher at the Johan Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Université Sainte-Joseph (Beirut), and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and lectured at the American University of Afghanistan, Bard College and Marist College, where he taught courses in political theory, ethics, philosophy of law and existentialism.

Dr. Nada Mourtada-Sabah

Vice Chancellor for Development & Alumni Affairs

Professor in Political Science

E-mail:  nmsabbah@aus.edu

Nada Mourtada-Sabbah,

The nomination of Dr. Nada Mourtada-Sabbah as the Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs was approved by the Board of Trustees on June 9, 2009. Dr. Nada Mourtada-Sabbah was one of the pioneer faculty members who joined AUS when it opened its doors in 1997. She was subsequently elected President of the AUS Faculty Senate, and served as the Chair of the department of International Studies for three years, successfully overseeing its accreditation. She was then appointed as the Assistant to the Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs from 2007 to 2009 and held this position until the AUS Board of Trustees approved her appointment as the Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs.

Professor Mourtada was promoted through the ranks at AUS from Assistant Professor to Full Professor of Public Law and International Studies. She is the recipient of the AUS Excellence in Teaching Award and the AUS Excellence in Service Award. Dr. Mourtada-Sabbah received a BA with distinction from the American University in Beirut where she was the recipient of the Penrose Award for the most outstanding qualities of leadership, scholarship, and contributions to the University as a whole as demonstrated by a graduating student. She holds a PhD in Public Law with distinction from the University of Paris II. She has held visiting professorships at major universities and research institutions in the US and Europe, including the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington, DC, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the Congressional Research Service (Library of Congress), the University of Paris Law School, and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po.)

Her books include Le Privilege de l’ Executif aux Etats-Unis ,Is war a Political Question, Globalization and the Gulf (UK: Routledge, 2007), and The Supreme Court of the United States and the Political Question Doctrine (Berkeley Public Policy Press, 2007). Some of her many articles have appeared in the Harvard Middle Eatern and Islamic Review, White House Studies, Maghreb-Mashrek, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Revue Pouvoirs, Revue Internationale de Droit Compare, Annuaire Francais de Relations Internationales and Revue du Droit Public et de la Science Politique en France et a l'Etranger.

Dr. James Sater

Assistant Professor Political Science

E-mail: jsater@aus.edu

James N. Sater, Assistant Professor (PhD, Middle East Politics, and MA, Middle East Studies, University of Durham, UK). Before joining AUS, Dr. Sater briefly worked for the German development agency GTZ. From 2005 to 2008, he was Assistant Professor for Middle East and North African Politics at Al Akhawayn University in Morocco. He has worked on state-civil society relations in the Maghreb, women’s rights movements and parliamentarians, political parties, public opinion and the process of democratization. He previously conducted research on Bahrain, Kuwait and the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is the author of Civil Society and Political Change in Morocco (Abingdon and New York, Routledge, 2007), and has contributed articles to Democratization, the Journal of North African Studies and Mediterranean Politics. He also contributed to online debates on the Western Sahara conflict organized by the Washington- based Middle East Institute. He is currently working on his second book, Morocco: Challenges to Tradition and Modernity (Abingdon and New York, Routledge, 2009).  

Dr. Robert Stewart-Ingersoll

Assistant Professor in Political Science

E-mail: ringersoll@aus.edu

Dr. Robert Stewart-Ingersoll, Assistant Professor of Political Science (PhD, MA, University of Arizona; BA, Indiana University, Bloomington). Dr. Stewart-Ingersoll’s research focuses on international security, broadly defined. His research is divided into two main areas. First, he explores the functions that regional powers play in developing and managing order within their regional security complexes. He is currently working on a book manuscript that provides an in-depth development of the Regional Powers and Security Framework (RPSF). The RPSF provides a systematic method through which to identify regional powers and analyze the nature of their regional influences. He is also particularly interested in the application of the RPSF to the regions of South Asia, the Middle East, Central Eurasia, and South America. The second area of research that Dr. Stewart-Ingersoll focuses on is human security. He is particularly interested in how the process of globalization is altering the levels of attainment of human security throughout the world. His current work in this area is focused on how international trade as well as the expansion of international communication facilitated by the information revolution is influencing the repressive behavior of states. His publications have appeared in several academic journals, including European Journal of International Relations, International Interactions, and The Journal of International Relations and Development. More information about Dr. Stewart-Ingersoll’s research and teaching can be found on his personal website: http://web.me.com/ingersor/.

Dr. Karen Young

Assistant Professor in Political Science

E-mail:   kyoung@aus.edu

Dr. Karen Young, Assistant Professor of Political Science (PhD, City University of New York, The Graduate Center; MA, Columbia University; MA, Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar, Ecuador; BA, Wellesley College.) Dr. Young's major research interests are based in international relations, comparative politics and political economy. Her research focus is the politics of economic reform and financial crisis, while she has also done substantial research and writing projects on the politics of the United Nations and Security Council reform, the politics of development, aid, peace and security. She has worked as a researcher at the Ford Foundation, the Program on States and Security at the CUNY Graduate Center, and the Ralph Bunche Institute, also at CUNY. She taught in the Political Science department of Queens College in New York. She has also worked in university administration at New York University in the College of Arts and Science and as Assistant Director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Her dissertation, "Enforcing Liberalism: Political Advisory Networks and New Economic Institutions," examined how informal advisory processes inform and manipulate economic policy, specifically monetary policy and banking reform after financial crisis. She has lived and worked in Latin America and Eastern Europe as part of her graduate and dissertation research. Dr. Young has won several fellowships for her work, including Fulbright awards, to Ecuador (1997-99) and Bulgaria (2005-06), respectively, and awards from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Woodrow Wilson International Center, and the International Research and Exchange Board.  She co-authored a study on the reform of the United Nations Security Council with Professor Thomas G. Weiss of the Ralph Bunche Institute and published a portion of that research in Security Dialogue (2005, 36:2).

Dr. Mark Aveyard

Assistant Professor in Psychology

E-mail : maveyard@aus.edu

Mark Aveyard, Assistant Professor of Psychology (PhD in 2007, Florida State University; MS, Florida State; BA, University of Nebraska).  My research focuses on how the body shapes the way humans use and comprehend language. As an undergraduate I was struck by the power of experimental design in the social sciences (it's all about causation!), and I was determined to employ those methods in studying literary language such as poetry.  In graduate school, I worked in a lab at the forefront of a fairly new movement in cognitive science known as embodiment, which blurs the supposedly clear line between mind and body.  For those new to psychology in this age of iPods, I highly recommend Daniel Robinson's audio series, Great Ideas of Psychology, through The Teaching Company (www.teach12.com).  For the more cinematically-oriented, try the film Memento---a portrayal of a man who loses what we often take for granted in our cognitive experience.

Dr. Anatoliy Kharkhurin

Assistant Professor in Psychology

E-mail : akharkhurin@aus.edu

Anatoliy Kharkhurin, Assistant Professor of Psychology. (PhD, City University of New York; MA, University of Amsterdam; MA, BA, University of Nijmegen). Dr. Kharkhurin’s research focuses mainly on bilingualism and cognition. His initial research sought after the influence of bilingualism on creative abilities and grew directly out of his experiences in creative writing. This work was supported by a National Science Foundation research grant. He also has a line of research examining the influence of native language phonology on reading in foreign language speakers. Most recently, Dr. Kharkhurin has started research on the influence of cross-cultural experience on conceptual changes in bilinguals and their cross-linguistic unconscious associations. Dr. Kharkhurin’s articles have appeared in Cognitive Aspects of Bilingualism (Berlin: Springer Verlag) and the journal Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. He has written the entries on the Turing test and the Turing machine for the Cambridge Dictionary of Psychology (forthcoming) and the general essay on gifted bilinguals for the Encyclopedia of Giftedness, Creativity and Talent (SAGA Publications, forthcoming). In addition to his scientific interests, he is a published poet. Before coming to AUS, he taught in the Psychology Department at the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. More information about Dr. Kharkhurin’s research can be found on his personal website: http://www.TovyHarhur.com/research/.

Dr. Angela Maitner

Assistant Professor in Psychology

E-mail: amaitner@aus.edu

Dr. Angela Maitner, Assistant Professor of Psychology (PhD, MA, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA; BS, Eckerd College, USA). Dr. Maitner completed a postdoctoral fellowship position at the University of Kent (Canterbury, United Kingdom) before joining the faculty at AUS. Her research investigates how social group memberships, such as nationality, occupation, university affiliation, or gender impact people’s emotions, behaviors, and cognitions. Specifically, her research investigates (1) the influence of social identification on people’s interpretation of events, their experience of group-based emotion, and the impact of those emotions on intergroup behavior, and (2) how experience with social diversity impacts the way people form impressions of others. Her work has been published in several social psychological journals, and she has presented her work in 11 different countries. She maintains research collaborations around the globe. Dr. Maitner is excited to teach students about psychology as a science, and would be very happy to speak with students interested in gaining research experience.

Dr. Sabrina Tahboub-Schulte
Adjunct Professor in Psychology
E-mail: stahboubschulte@aus.edu

Sabrina Tahboub-Schulte, PhD in 2009, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK; MA, BA, Free University of Berlin, Germany. My research focuses on mental health-related issues with particular attention towards the co-occurrence of mental illness and substance misuse problems (dual diagnosis). During my undergraduate and postgraduate studies, I concentrated on the development of psychotic disorders and treatment models available as well as the impact of such on clients’ social lives. My PhD research project combined psychiatric- and addiction-specific aspects by investigating treatment outcomes of dually diagnosed clients in Manchester, UK. Furthermore, I am interested in exploring the impact of socio-cultural factors on individuals’ mental health concepts.

Flor S. Khattab
Administrative Assistant
E-mail: fkhattab@aus.edu

Flor Santos Khattab, Administrative Assistant, Department of International Studies. Flor is in her second year as the Administrative Assistant came to the Department with eighteen years of administrative experience in the United Arab Emirates, including eight years at American University of Sharjah. While a secretary in the School of Architecture & Design, she received an “Employee of the Year” award for the year 2003-2004.

After graduating with a BA in Economics from Bicol University College of Arts and Sciences in the Philippines, Flor attended law school while working as administrative assistant/stock custodian for a private company in Manila. She moved to the UAE in 1991. For nine years, she worked as an Executive Secretary for Khatib & Alami (CEC), an international engineering consulting firm.